The New Kid
by InThePines
Summary: Cryaotic is the new student at Let'sPlay Academy. He arrives wearing a mask, anxious to escape the shadow that has been following him since he was a child. With the help of his new game playing friends, will he be able to escape his dark past?
1. 1 Welcome to Let'sPlay

I fix my mask with the tips of my fingers. I hate it when it slips, and I should probably get a new buckle for it or something, but money's a rare commodity in my life. I look up when my features have settled properly into the grooves of the mask into the eyes of the principal. Her eyes are purple, which is kind of unnerving. Contacts, I think. Her long, brown hair is done up in a serious bun, and she looks at me over the top of thin, rectangular glasses, scrutinising me like only an authority figure can. She clears her throat, making me jump slightly.

"Welcome to Let'sPlay Academy, Ryan." She says in a strict voice. She stands up from her chair slowly and paces around the desk towards me. "You have been allowed entrance to this school because you are one of the best gamers the world has to offer. Please know, there is no school uniform, and not many restrictions on accessories." She stops in front of me and purses her lips, examining my mask. "So I _suppose_ the mask can stay."

She walks past me and picks up a black clipboard and a thin pen. I let out a small sigh of relief. I had been really worried that the mask wouldn't be allowed, and I needed it to conceal who I am. If he found me…

I didn't want to think about that…

The principal clears her throat again to get my attention before looking down at her clipboard. "Now, what would you like to be referred to as?" she asks. I raise an eyebrow, but the feeling of it touching my mask reminds me she can't actually see my face, so I cock my head to the side.

"What do you mean, miss?" I ask. She sighs.

"At Let'sPlay Academy, we allow our students to take on a fake name, though we prefer the term 'Gamer Name'. It gives our students a bit of anonymity that gaming requires."

I have to think about this for a while. Does she mean a nickname? I only had one nickname, but it was the one _he_ gave to me. Using that would make it easier for him to find me. My mind goes into overdrive as I try to think of a name. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, I remember when I was little, sitting on my mattress on the floor while my parents hugged me. "Go ahead and cry," they whispered. "It's okay to cry, it helps you to heal."

I look up at the imposing woman. "Cryaotic." I say. "Cry for short."

The principal's stern appearance falters slightly and she smiles. "Well, then. Welcome the Let'sPlay Academy, Cry."


	2. 2 The Bro Army

The principal takes to me my first class, Media Production. Acting has never really been a strong point of mine, and I always preferred the idea of being behind the camera rather than in front of it. Inside the spacious classroom are about twenty computers and there is a giant green screen in the back. There's a guy around my age sitting in front of the green screen, talking to a camera while he fiddles around on a computer. Judging from the noise the students are making, class hasn't started yet. The principal leads me over to an empty chair and tells me to sit down.

"The boy next to you will show you around." She tells me. "He's a very nice person, so you should be okay with him. Enjoy your first day."

I open my mouth to ask her to introduce me, but she turns and walks away. She probably thinks I need to introduce myself to get used to meeting new people. Sighing, I turn to the boy next to me. He has sandy blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, and his pale, slender fingers are guiding a mouse. Large, black headphones are on his ears, and a small, black microphone is attached to it. He seems to be concentrating on the screen, but I know if I don't introduce myself now, I'll chicken out. I reach over and tap him lightly on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, friend." I mutter softly. He looks over at me with surprised eyes, then grins a ridiculously silly grin.

"Ha ha, how's it goin' bro?" he asks in a thick Swedish accent. "My name is Pewdiepie! You must be the new kid everyone said was coming. Nice mask!"

I smile at him, my awkwardness gone. He seems like a really nice guy, and he's really easy to talk to. "Thank you, friend! I'm Cryaotic, but Cry will probably be easier. To tell you the truth, I'm a bit nervous. This place is huge!"

Pewdiepie laughs. It's a wheezing kind of laughter that sounds ridiculous, but is extremely catchy, and I find myself laughing with him for no discernable reason. "It's not that bad once you get used to it." He promises me. "Most of the place is either boarding rooms or gaming stations. And it's really easy to make friends here. Hey, why don't I introduce you to some people?"

I'm not really sure I want to be bombarded with names and faces so soon, but his smile is so cute, I have to say yes. He turns to his right, where three people are sitting in a row. "Hey guys, meet Cry. He's new here!" The three turn to m with smiling faces.

The one closest to Pewdiepie is slightly large, mostly due to a naturally big build. He's wearing a ripped pink shirt and an old denim jacket. His ears are covered with silver earrings and the left ear has a cut in it. I decide not to stare at it for too long, in case he thinks I'm being rude. His hair is pink, obviously dyed, and I think I can faintly smell bleach. He smiles at me, but it's a creepy kind of smile that sets me on edge. He reaches out and strokes my arm.

"Oh, _hello_." He coos. "I like you. You're kind of cute. Maybe we could get together sometime…" He leans in closer to me. "That is, if you're in to that sort of thing. Even if you're not, it's okay. We can give it a shot. Don't knock it 'till you try it…"

The one next to him smacks him upside the head. He's wearing Arabian style clothing and a turban, but it's all in gold, offsetting his chocolate skin. There's a scabbard, and actual _scabbard, _around his waist, but the sword appears to be eyes are dark and serious, and he has a bored look on his face. "Piggeh, can't you be serious for once? You're scaring the new kid."

I blink in surprise. I expected him to have a much more exotic accent, but it sounds thick and French, not what I expected at all. The guy in pink rubs his ear while the French-Arab smiles at me. "Allos, Cry. I'm Stephano, and this is Peter. We call him Piggeh, because, well…" he trails off as Piggeh looks over to some other guy and wiggles his fingers, raising his eyebrows. Stephano scoffs and hits him again. "Sorry about him, he's always like that. This is Mr. Chair." He says, gesturing to his left.

The third boy looked kind of mousey. He had short brown hair and big eyes, and was wearing simple brown pants and a green vest. His glasses were thin rectangles, which he sort of hid behind. He smiled at me sheepishly.

"Hello." He said in a slightly quiet voice. "I'm Woody. Woody Cher. Everyone calls me Mr. Chair because it sounds like wooden chair."

He yelps as Piggeh comes over and practically dives onto his lap. "And because he's so _goddamn_ confortable." Piggeh says seductively. Mr. Chair blushes and pushes him off playfully. Pewdiepie laughs at his friend's antics.

"Yeah, I think we're some of the weirdest people in Let'sPlay." He says happily. "Ask anyone, they'll tell you! 'The Bro Army' is pretty well known."

I giggle as the class starts to quiet down, and Stephano hits Piggeh upside the head again.

"Piggeh, get back in your seat, class is about to start!" He growls. Piggeh winks and skips slightly back to his seat. Pewdie looks over to me and smiles.

"You'll like this teacher, Cry. He's really cool, and he makes sure to establish good relationships with his students. And he's pretty funny."

I look over to where the teacher is, expecting him to start talking, but Piggeh taps my shoulder and points to a giant projector screen at the front of the class. I look at it as a picture starts to swim into focus and the lights dim. The boy in front of the green screen earlier is on there, sitting in front of a completely black background. He smiles and waves at the class.

"Hey everyone, I'm CinnamonToastKen, and this is Media Production." He says. His voice is light and happy, and he smiles all the time. He has brown, almost black facial hair, a longish beard that covers the lower half of his face. Headphones rest on his ears, with a microphone attached.

I'm surprised. He looks like he's the same age as everyone in the room, but he's teaching us? How does that work? I shake my head and remind myself to ask Pewdiepie later, directing my attention back to what Ken is saying.

"Today, I'll be teaching you all about the green screen. This is a remarkable little thing that will probably help you a lot in this class. With this awesome thing, you can go almost anywhere. Look!"

The blackness behind him starts turning slightly blue, and little white dots slowly appear. In no time, Ken is sitting in front of numerous planets, stars and space ships. "I'm in space!" He shouts happily. The class starts laughing and clapping as Ken ducks to avoid lasers being shot by a Space Invaders style alien ship.

The rest of the class is amazing. Ken is really funny, and the most incredible teacher. His video goes on for the whole class, as he explains how to use green screens, and the real Ken walks around the room, offering assistance to any students who are really struggling. He comes over to me to check up on me, and smiles.

"Hey, nice mask! Haven't seen you around before. You new, Poker Face?" he asks. Normally, I might take offence to that sort of comment, but his voice is really happy and genuine. I smile beneath my mask.

"Yeah, I'm new. My name's Cry."

He nods with a big grin. "Nice to meet you, Cry. I'm CinnamonToastKen. Glad you came to be with us. Come say hi to me and my friends some time!"

I've never felt so accepted in my whole life.


	3. 3 Pewdie's Demons

After class, Pewdiepie and I walk down a long hall, passing door after door and face after face. A lot of the people here stare at me. I guess my mask is really obvious, but that doesn't really bother me. I'm not using it to hide from them.

Pewdiepie is looking at my timetable, judging my classes. He's put on a pair of wide-rimmed black glasses, which really offset his eyes.

"Hey, you're in my English class! And me have next period together!" he says happily. I smile, glad that he's in at least one more of my classes. One less introduction I'll have to do. Thinking about this suddenly makes me remember Media Production.

"Hey Pewds." I say. I had heard the other three guys call him Pewds, and I hope he doesn't mind. He looks up and nods to me, eyes attentive, so I guess it's okay. "That guy that was teaching, Ken. Isn't he our age? How is he a teacher?"

Pewdiepie nods as if he had been expecting this question. "He's actually a student here. All of us are here because we're the best at what we do, and Ken's a pro at media production. So, he was asked to share his knowledge with the rest of us, which is why he teaches the class."

"So do you teach anything?"

He grins at me. "Talar du svenska?" he asks. I stare at him.

"Um… No?" I ask more than say. He laughs his wheezy laugh again.

"I didn't think so. I teach Swedish. Four times a week, I don't have to go to class, because I _run_ the class." He stretches out and smiles. "It's a pretty good feeling."

I laugh as he looks back down at my timetable. Could I teach a class? But then what would I teach? I didn't really have a special talent I could share, unless there was room for a mask-making class in the curriculum.

Pewdiepie starts muttering my classes to himself when suddenly, a large, extremely overweight man slams into him. The strange man's blubber absorbs the blow of the impact, but Pewdiepie is sent flying and crashes onto the floor. His bag slides across the room, and his glasses skid in front of the large boy, who grins and lifts a foot, holding it over the glasses. I know he's going to smash them. It's happened to me before, and I can't let it happen to my new friend.

"Excuse me, sir!" I shout. He stops and turns toward me, taking his foot away from the glasses, to my relief. His eyes are silently challenging, and he's gripping a toothpick between his teeth. My mind practically screams _douche_.

"What do you want, faceless?" he asks in a dark voice. I swallow and help Pewdiepie up to his feet, grabbing his arm and using it to hoist him up.

"Apologise to my friend this instant, you jerk!" I shout at him. He chuckles low and deep, and I swear, his fat wiggles with every short, sharp sound.

"Why should I?" he asks. Pewdiepie rubs his eyes sleepily and looks over to the boy. His eyes narrow into slits when he sees him.

"_Barrel!_" he shouts loudly. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Several people stop and stare at the conflict between the two boys. Low whispers start up, and a small circle of people forms around us. Barrel stares at Pewdiepie dully.

"I go to school here." He says. Pewdiepie shakes his head vigorously.

"No way. I got you expelled last year."

There's the sound of a throat being cleared behind us, and I sigh, thinking I'll be hearing a lot of that annoying throat clear. The students part to make a path for the principal, who walks over to Pewdiepie and Barrel.

"Mr. Kjellberg, Mr. Baller, I'd like to see the two of you in my office immediately." She tells them in a no nonsense tone. Barrel shrugs and walks away from the gaping students, but Pewdiepie is staring coldly at the principal.

"Why is he back?"

The principal sighs deeply. "I will happily explain everything _inside my office._"

Pewdiepie continues glaring at her before breaking eye contact and turning towards me. "The gym is right down there." He says, his Swedish accent laced with venom. "Will you be okay? Mr. Chair can take you. I really gotta go see what's happening." I nod as the Swede walks off, following the principal. Piggeh hands Pewdiepie his bag and Stephano hands him his reading glasses. He nods at them and gives each a fist bump before walking away. Immediately after he and the principal are out of sight, the students all start gossiping loudly, seeming to converse with everyone at once.

"Was that really Barrel?"

"Do you think Pewdiepie is alright?"

"I heard he went to jail, but his parents bailed him out!"

"Nah, you got it all wrong! He was sent to the asylum, but his parents bribed the doctors!"

A swarm of people walk up to me, circling me. I feel like a rat trapped by a bunch of alley cats. "Do you know Pewdiepie?" one girl asks. "What was that all about? Tell us everything!"

I feel claustrophobic as everyone pushes towards me and yells at me all at once. I need to get out of here, and fast, but there's no where to go. Suddenly, I see Mr. Chair push gently through the crowd towards me. He smiles and holds out his hand. "Grab on to my sleeves. I'm going to try to get you out of here." He says. I nod and grab on to the cuff of his sleeve. He takes a deep breath.

"Chair mode activate. BOOP."

Suddenly, it's like no one can even see us. People automatically part for us and everyone acts like we're not there. Finally, we manage to pull ourselves out of the sea of people. I smile at Mr. Chair.

"Thanks, friend. It was starting to feel a little crowded."

Mr. Chair grins. "No kidding. That was a pretty big audience."

"You said it, sir. What was that all about?" The whole scene was really confusing, and I want to make sense of the conflict between Pewdiepie and Barrel. Especially the part about barrel got expelled. But when Mr. Chair hesitates, I know I'm not going to get an answer.

"I'm sorry, Cry. I'd like to tell you, and Pewdiepie seems to really like you, but it's not my place to say. All I can tell you is that, a while ago, Pewdiepie and Barrel had a run in. It wasn't pleasant."

I want him to tell me more, but I understand. If Pewdiepie wants me to know, he'll tell me himself. For now, I just have to forget about it.

We continue walking until we come to a set of blue and red double doors. Mr. Chair gestures to them. "The gym's just through there. Try not to worry about Pewdie, he'll be fine. Just enjoy yourself, and make some new friends." He smiles warmly at me, and I nod and walk inside.


	4. 4 The Late Night Crew

To me, gyms usually evoke images of soccer balls, basketball hoops, volley ball nets and maybe some treadmills or something. I might even expect a swimming pool.

I do not expect a laser tag arena.

All around the long, wide room, there are barrels and low walls to seek cover behind. There are two towers, one red and one blue. The red one looks steampunk in appearance, with turning gears behind it and numerous ramps leading to and from the tower. The only word I can think of to describe the blue tower is cyberpunk. Large wires run across the walls and there are tall, winding spiral staircases. Between the two towers, there is a maze people would have to navigate, and in the centre of the maze is a tall platform, which I guess would be for snipers. Everything in the room is made of metal, and the lights are bright. When they went out, I can see that there are laser lights and dim, neon blue and red lights to allow the players to see. There's also an area that's sectioned off. I think it's another tower, but there's no way to be sure.

All my classmates are standing in groups, wearing jackets with blinking lights and holding phasers and talking amongst themselves quietly. I'm continually amazed at how relaxed this school seems to be. In one of the groups, a guy with slightly long brown hair and blue eyes grins and waves at me. I nod and walk over slowly, hoping that was what he was signalling me to do. He smiles at me as I approach.

"Hey, you're the new kid, Cryaotic, right?" he asks.

"Cry." I tell him. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too! I'm Ru$$Money, your roommate. This is the Late Night Crew. We just call ourselves that because every Saturday, I have them over to play video games and eat pizza until some ungodly hour in the morning. Hope that's not a problem."

I look around at the massive group. There must be about ten of them, maybe. One of them, I remember instantly.

"Oh, hey Ken!" I say a little too loudly. He laughs as I blush underneath my mask.

"Hey again, Cry. Glad to see you making some friends. We're a good bunch, I promise."

Russ taps me on the shoulder and I spin around. He has a long, slightly lanky guy next to him who has thin hair and is eating a bowl of two minute noodle soup. "Cry, this is Scott Jund, or as we like to call him, Soup Joond." Russ tells me. Scott smiles, putting the soup cup down so he can shake my hand.

"Nice to meet you." He says. "I'm kind of the brain of this operation." His voice is joking, but there's a slightly stuck-up air about it, not so much that he seems like a brat, but enough to make you roll your eyes and smile.

"Hey, Jund. How's it feel to be the most hated guy at Let'sPlay Academy?"

My body gives an involuntary shudder at the sound of that voice. It's so deep and raspy, it's hardly a voice at all, and I feel like it's swallowing me in its roughness. Another guy walks up to us, and I want to be able to explain him, but any explanation I give could never go him justice. It's like he's twenty-something, but old and young at the same time, and he's rugged in a smooth sort of way. His grey hair makes him look matured, but undeveloped. Staring at him too long starts to make my head hurt, so I try to concentrate on his khaki bandanna. Scott smirks at the new guy and pulls out a giant wad of cash from his pocket. My eyes bulge, both at the fact that he just carries so much money with him, and the fact he managed to make it fit in the pocket of his jeans. He pokes the wad randomly, then holds it up to his ears like a phone.

"I dunno. Give me a second while I call them?" he asks sarcastically. With an eye roll, he walks over to a guy with curly hair and a bright smile. Russ sighs.

"Can't you and Scott at least _try_ to be nice to each other?"

The other guy flashes his teeth at Russ. "Sorry. You know the soup head and I just clash." He turns to me and holds out his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Snake."

I feel a little reluctant about shaking hands with him. He seems like the kind of person who'd be able to crush I without trying. But I reach out and take it, and it's a softer handshake than I expected. He gestures to a girl that walks over to us. Her hair is bright red, and she's wearing cargo pants and a white singlet under her armour. "This is the DreadRed. But we just call her Red."

She smiles at me. It's a warm and lovely smile, one that makes you feel happy and safe. I like her already. She walks over to Russ and puts her arm around his waist, leaning on his shoulder. He does the same, only leaning her head.

"I'm Cry." I say, starting to grow slightly tired of the sound of my own name. "I'm new here."

"Hey Cry. How's your first day going? Meet anyone interesting?" she asks. I'm a bit surprised. She's the first person to actually ask about my day, and it's kind of nice to have someone take an interest. I nod.

"I met this guy, Pewdiepie, but he had to go to the principal's office with some guy called Barrel."

Scott looks over to us, eyes wide. "Oh, shit, Barrel's back?" he asks. Russ bites his lip and Red goes pale. Snake is the only one who doesn't seem to react to this news. I look at them. "What's up with the whole Pewdiepie and Barrel thing?" I ask. Red shakes her head.

"We're not really the best people to ask. We only know rumours. Ken might know, but he doesn't like talking about people without them knowing." I nod slowly, worried and slightly distressed. Red smiles at me, trying to lighten the mood. "Hey, do you want me to show you where you get geared up?" she asks. I perk up a bit and nod. She links her arm with mine and leads me past the large arena, through a metal door.


	5. 5 Team of LP

Inside are rows of armour and phasers. Red gestures to them.

"Blue armour to your left, red armour to your right." She says. I look around.

"What about the armour on the back wall?" I ask. She shakes her head, grinning.

"Ah, no. Green armour isn't used unless there's a school event. Then we open up the doors to the Green Sector, which is so freaking cool. You'll get to see it one day. So, which team do you wanna be on?"

I ponder her question for a minute. The blue place looks a lot nicer than the red place, but Red is probably on the red team, and I want to stick with her. Finally, I decide.

"I want to be on whatever team Snake's on." I say. Red laughs loudly, pulling off one of the armour from the right.

"Got you scared did he? Good idea to team up with him. Looks like you're stuck with me for a while." She pulls the jacket-like thing over my head. There are two panels, one covering my chest, the other my back. The panels have three gears on them, which light up, along with the lights on my shoulders.

"So who's on our team?" I ask. Red clips two buckles at my side and adjusts the straps so the armour pack hugs my chest.

"Well, there's you, me and Snake, obviously. But Snake won't be much help. As soon as the match starts, he usually disappears into the shadows and we don't hear from him again. But somehow, he always manages to get the most points. And he has a helpful habit of showing up to save the day when we need him most. But that's Snake for you." She shrugs and checks that everything is sitting properly on top of my hoodie.

"Then there's Ken. Yeah, stop grinning like a fool, you've got a friend on the team."

"How could you tell I was grinning?" I ask, touching my mask lightly. She stops fiddling with the fabric of my shirt and looks at me right in the eyes. A sudden tension and seriousness coats the air. I hold her gaze for two seconds before looking away quickly.

"There are some things we can't hide." She whispers. Her green eyes seem sad and distant. I'm at a loss for what to say, so I'm glad when she waves her hand and shakes the solemn atmosphere away. "Anyway, we've also got MangaMinx on our team. She's a great player, and an excellent team mate."

I tilt my head to the side. "Who's she?"

Red's questioning and confused stare makes me wish I hadn't asked the question. She shakes her head softly. "You haven't heard of her yet? How is that possible? How can you _not_ have heard someone, _anyone_ say at least _something_ about her?"

"Is she important?" I ask. I immediately realise I've said the wrong thing when Red gives a tiny squeak.

"Of _course_ she's important. She's the most well known person in the Academy! She the fucking _Queen_ of Let'sPlay!" Red shakes her head again. "No no, this simply will not do. You _must _meet her. Choose you inventory, and let's go."

I'm about to ask her what an inventory is, but she just pushes past me and walks over to a cabinet on the back wall. Rolling my eyes, I opt for a different question that will make me seem like less of a moron.

"Who's on the other team?" I ask, trying to catch up to her.

"Jund, Russ, BattleStar, ZutaraRaven and Ricky P. Jangles." She says curtly. I give up on any hope of finding out who Zuty-thing and Ricky P are. Red is on a mission, and nothing's going to distract her from it.

When she reaches the cabinet and opens the doors, there are rows and rows of phasers in all shapes and sizes. They're not limited to gun shapes, close combat weapons with light-up tips occupy the wall as well. My mouth opens, and I'm glad my mask covers up the whole 'startled fish' look I have going right now. Red turns to me and grins.

"Ah, I forgot to tell you. This is basically a real-life video game. You've got a variety of different weapons, but of course, inventory only let's you have two at one time. So, choose your weapons, kid."

I walk over to the cabinet and take in all the different phasers. How rich is this school? This is not normal. Things like this don't _happen_ in real life. But here I am, about to walk into a first-person shooter, only I'm swapping my controller for a real weapon. After much consideration, I finally settle on a phaser shaped like a carbine as my weapon of choice. I'm about to pick up a knife for my second weapon when I see it. As I walk over to it, Red's face lights up, and she bites her bottom lip to keep herself from giggling. Slowly, I reach out and pick it up.

"Red?" I whisper. "Is this a chainsaw?"

Red can't help it any longer. She laughs. Long and hard, clutching at her sides and straining for breath. A tear starts to roll down her cheek as I stand there like a limp doll, ogling the fake chainsaw this crazy-ass school is letting me pretend to be a real weapon.

_In gym class._

Finally, Red's laughter subsides. "I think you're gonna enjoy this place, kid. Now, I should probably explain how the game works, huh?"

"Well," I say in a monotone voice. "It would help."

Red giggles and pulls her own weapons off the wall, a pistol and knife of some sort. She tosses her red hair behind her shoulder. "Right. The aim of the game is to destroy the enemy's tower. Once it's destroyed, it's game over. But usually, people just play for points. You get points for shooting a person, but you can only shoot them…" She uses her fingertip to touch the spots as she says them. "On the chest, back, shoulders, or phasers. The phasers also have realistic sounds. So that means, the chainsaw wouldn't be very good for stealth. It would be good, however, for scaring the shit out of someone. Which, in my opinion, is just as good."

Red looks me over, taking in my armour-covered hoodie, blue jeans and white mask, and starts nodding slowly. "Perfect. You ready to get started?" she asks. I hold my phaser in both hands and grin widely behind my mask.

Oh yeah. I'm ready.


	6. 6 Strategy

Okay, maybe I'm not as ready as I thought I was.

The class has split in half, one side flashing red, the other flashing blue. Russ and Jund look over to me and Red, nodding severely. Red nods back without a smile, nudging me to do the same. I follow her lead, confused. There's so much tension in the air, it's strange to remember everyone was happy and smiling a moment ago. I guess everyone takes this game really seriously.

Red leads me over to where Ken, Snake and a girl I've never seen before are sitting. The girl has long, brunette hair, and the front of it is dyed a shocking purple, which matches her singlet. Her eyes are a deep and engaging brown, and she's fiddling with a red bracelet that's wrapped around her wrist. When she sees Red, she jumps up and walks over, grinning.

"This isn't going to end up like our last co-op, is it?" she asks. Her accent is thickly British and her voice is slightly deeper than I'd expect of her. She's imposing and intimidating, but her smile is warm and friendly, like an older sister. Red scoffs and makes a big show of looking offended.

"Hey, I was amazing in Magicka. _You're_ the one who couldn't figure out the powers."

The girl laughs in a high-pitched tone. When she speaks again, her voice is much higher than normal. "I'm pretty fucking sure you're the one who couldn't get across the lake."

"You fell in the water too!"

They laugh together and wrap their arms around each other. They seem like great friends, but its strange hearing them disagreeing like that, even though they're just joking around. Friendly banter, I think it's called. When they pull apart, Red grabs me by the shoulder and pulls me toward the British girl.

"Red, this is Cry, the new kid. Cry, this is MangaMinx, the Queen of Let'sPlay academy. Please hail to the MangaMinx."

Minx blushes slightly at Red's remark and offers her hand for me to shake. I take it and smile. "Nice to meet you. Red won't shut up about you." I say. Minx giggles.

"Yeah, she's a little obsessed with me. Too bad we're both taken. Or did you forget you have a boyfriend, Red?" she jokes. Red smiles and punches her arm lightly. With a light gesture of her head, she leads us over to Snake and Ken, who are sketching out something on a large, white piece of paper. I tilt my head.

"What's all this?" I ask. Snake looks up briefly before returning his attention to the paper, sketching arrows across it.

"Battle strategy." He rasps. I shudder, wondering if I'll ever get used to that voice. Minx peers over his shoulder and mutters something in his ear. Snake's eyebrows crease. I look at the paper and realise it's a detailed map of the arena. There are five red dots in a faded red section and five blue dots in a faded blue section. Between them is a large chunk of grey. _No man's land_, I think. Snake and Ken have drawn all over the map, with arrows showing routes from each base to the other. I notice that in the red base, there is a giant shape at the door, and there are several circles in the blue base.

"What are these?" I ask. Snake makes a grunting sound and sketches another route to the blue base that snakes through the entire maze. Ken looks up at me and smiles.

"They're traps." He tells me. He gestures for me to take a seat next to him, and I accept his invitation. My legs are killing me. Ken points to our base while Red, Minx and Snake whisper, occasionally pointing to the map.

"You see, each base has a special… 'ability', I guess you could say. Our base can generate a cloud of steam, which decreases visibility. Means we can set up our positions without being spotted until it's too late. Blue base has these floor traps. When you step on them, they light up and your armour gets deactivated. But the location of the floor traps can be changed." Ken sighs and looks over to Snake. "Snake thinks we can go around the base and destroy it that way. But, as I've said _before_, they'll be expecting that."

Snake looks up and narrows his eyes at Ken, silencing Red with a wave of his hand. Red looks irritated, but doesn't say anything.

"And as _I've_ said, they'd be so expectant of it, they wouldn't even consider it a possibility. Only an idiot would think of doing something as obvious as going around the back, and if thinking like an idiot helps us win, then so be it."

"Yeah, you excel at idiocy." Ken snaps back. Red smiles and Minx giggles behind her hand. I blink rapidly at their exchange, seeing clearly how this will develop into an argument. I have to do something before it gets bad. Before _I_ get bad.

"You guys are taking this pretty seriously. I mean, it's just a game, does it matter?" I ask. Minx and Ken stare at me as if I'd just suggested we run into battle with bare hands. Snake just raises an eyebrow, and I wonder if he _ever_ shows expression. Red shakes her head at everyone.

"Now guys, c'mon. He's new, he doesn't know. And I haven't gotten to that part yet." Everyone gives me a wary look, but nod slowly, returning to their quiet disagreement about how to progress. Red smiles at me sheepishly.

"Right, so I may have missed out on some important points. Look, you know how schools usually have this big thing about football or basketball or whatever? Well, in the Gaming Academies, it's laser tag. You'd think it'd be a video gaming contest or something, but they want to know we can apply the things we learn in video games to 'real life' situations, whatever that means. Also, if we loose, that's points off our grades."

"So, everyone's getting really crazy about it because of their grades?" I ask. "That's ridiculous! I mean, I'd hate to get bad grades, but it's not worth arguing over!"

Red bites her lip. "That's only part of the reason, Cry. Look, every winter, there's a big game. It's all three gaming schools against each other, fighting for the title of 'best school'. And because of this, Let'sPlay only chooses the best players to fight for them."

I nod slowly, understanding. They're all getting angry at each other about these games because they want to play in the 'big event'. I take a few deep breaths. "Alright, I get it. But I don't like it."

Red smiles sadly and puts her arm around my shoulders. "I don't like it either. But that's the way it is."


	7. Author's Note

**Author's Note:  
I apologise to my 25 (Wow. Bigger number than I expected...) followers who have been waiting so patiently for an update. There has been a lot going on in my life in terms of school, family, mental health etc. Cry also updated on his Tumblt page that he did not like fictions that tried to create a past for him, which gave me a general sense of apathy toward this story, so I apologise for not writing very much. However, I've re-worked my storyline and I'm in the process of writing a new chapter, so please hang in there! Thank you for your support in my fan fiction writing endeavours.**

**Till the next update.**


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